BenQ W1070 : DLP Full HD, 3D Ready with lens-shift for 1000$ - Page 41

For those considering buying filters, consider this.

When you watch 3D, you will lose between 70/80% light output (approx). With a ND4 filter, you will lose 75% light output. So, if you want a filter and you want your 2D to be about the same brightness as 3D then buy an ND4 filter as you will already know what this looks like. If you want your 2D brighter, then go for the ND2 filter.
Obviously you need to remove the filter when watching 3D or else you'll be down to about 5% light output

I received my w1070 two days ago and thought I'd give my first impressions. I'm going to be using this projector for 70% movies and 30% games. It's connected to my HTPC via my Denon 3312ci. I have a nVidia 460 GTX and use XBMC and TMT5 for 3D playback. All my 2D movies are M2TS files and my 3D movies are ISO files. My previous projectors are an Infocus X10, Acer 5360 and Panny 7000. I've also demo'd in my home a JVC RS40 and Benq w6000. I have a 159" HP screen. The projector came from NCIX shipped to the US and was packaged very well. Setup was pretty simple, I have the projector shelf mounted behind my main seating. Yes I had to tilt the projector and use keystone for it to work in this setup even with using the small lens shift. Everyone is right about focusing this projector, the wheel is very sensitive as the focus dramatically changes with the slightest movement.

Here are a few things that stand out:
Colors 9: This projector has amazing color, contrast and pop for it's price point. The picture has a nice punch to it and colors look very natural. My games pop and look outstanding on it.

Blacks 7: Blacks are better then I thought they'd be. Very nice improvement over my Acer and X10 but not quite as good as the panny 7000. No where close to the RS40.

Noise 10: VERY quiet in IMHO. I run the projector in smart eco mode (which works very well btw) for everything including 3d and I can barely hear it.

Brightness 10: It's the brightest of all the projectors I've seen even slightly beating out the Acer which has roughly a 1000 hours on the bulb.

Sharpness 8: With some elbow grease, I got the picture nicely sharp. It's about on par with the Panny 7000. I was hoping for the same level of sharpness as my X10 but sadly it doesn't compare (The X10 is EXTREMELY RAZOR SHARP). I might pick up a Darbee to help out.

3D 10: I'm absolutely BLOWN AWAY. Its BRIGHT, sharp, and crystal clear. Contrast is amazing, picture is very colorful and has tons of depth. Blacks look even better! It's a HUGE improvement over the 5360 which was really good on it's own right.

Other thoughts:

I HIGHLY recommend using Smart Eco and Brilliant Color, makes the picture look outstanding. For the best 3D set brightness to 47, sharpness to 15 and gamma to 1.6. Make sure brilliant color and smart eco are on. For games use same settings except change gamma to 2.0

All said this is a great projector for it's price point. I'm a very happy camper!
Edited by plasmaowner - 1/11/13 at 9:59am

plasmaowner,
I totally agree with you but I have yet tested 3d, What glasses are you using ?
I have 2 pair coming from True Depth which are their fixed one's for the W1070.
I should have them Monday and a couple of 3d Blurays in on Tuesday so I won't know how well it does until then

Cheers
Rew

I'm using the 3DTV Corp glasses for now until my Benq D3's come in (about a week). The 3DTV glasses work very well but unfortunately they don't eliminate all the red flash. I don't really notice it unless I look to the side.

not that this was unexpected, but still sad to hear it. I have an x10 and have been bitten by the 3d bug... so I have been weighing the options for a single projector solution, but still floundering around... doubt I'll get the sharpness of my x10 with any of the current 3D DLP offerings under $5k. I'm kicking myself for not jumping on the IN83 refurbs on ebay for $850 a few weeks ago... could have sold my X10 for a couple hundred and had an IN83/W1070 combo for 2D/3D for under $2K. Oh well... back to floundering

Good info, what is the size of the lens on this W1070, or more to the point what size ND filter does one need to buy?

Sorry plasmaowner, but Smart Eco doesn't work as advertised and Brilliant Color is *awful*. Best to turn both off. Gamma is a whole other can of worms.

Did you verify that the Benq D3's 3D Glasses P/N: 5J.J7K25.001 are indeed the correct ones?

W1070 Info sheet calls out the following: 3D Glasses P/N: 5J.J7K25.011. Notice the last 3 digits.

So far I have not found the glasses listed on the data sheet anywhere. Did they change the P/N?

Rew

Is the IN83 really that good?

The Smart Eco feature works flawless on my unit and adds more contrast, punch and depth to the picture. Combine Smart Eco with Brilliant Color set to ON the picture looks outstanding to my eyes. To each his own.


The ones I ordered have P/N of 5J.J7K25.001. Should have them next week. Maybe it's a typo on the W1070 info sheet. Benq's website also shows 5J.J7K25.001 for the D3s.

I just spoke to Benq USA.

1. At this time there is no user firmware upgrade possible. (This may change in the future.)

2. The latest firmware is 104 which was just released. It fixes an issue with the fan shutting off too soon.

3. Version 103 made in my opinion a more important change. It fixed a flickering issue.

4. Benq suggested that we wait a few months to see if there are any other issues. They will pay shipping both ways and will update the firmware.

5. If you have version 102 please report if you have any flickering issues.

I have 1.02. The only flicker I get is when changing the resolution or source (from hdmi1 to 2, haven't tried other ones).
I use xbmc and it changed to 1080p/24 when starting a movie.
For about 1-2sec I see weird stuff (image colored only red, then flashes to green) and flickers. After that it goes to normal and all is ok until the end of the movie when it goes back to 60hz.
This is my first projector so I don't know if this is what you are talking about. I thought it was normal, and it doesn't bother me so much.

Update note:

Called Benq tech support and they don't yet know the difference but they are aware the different 3d glasses P/N's.
They hope to know more in couple of weeks.

Rew

^^^^ Thanks for this great info. Its really appreciated. At-least BenQ is picking up the shipping tab which should be a given IMO, but, the question is what kind of turn around times are we looking at. Would suck if you sent your unit for a firmware update only to be PJ-less for 2-3 weeks, lol. I really-really hope they just enable us to update the firmware at some point.

On a more positive note my PJ ships on Monday from Amazon CA!!!

Thanks

I have both but benq isnt setup yet..pm me to ask in a few days

I'll only send in my PJ for a firmware update if they fix the letterbox scaling in 3D mode, or something else that's really important, other than that I don't really care about the mentioned 1.03 or 1.04 fixes. (I'm at 1.02).

But, I'd still rather update the firmware myself. It would be really annoying to have something wierd happen to my projector and not have it for a few weeks. Going back to using my plasma fulltime is going to be such a downer! No offense, little panasonic dude. haha. I'm moving cities soon and will probably give my old plasma TV to my mom, I love this projector so much. For normal use of my HTPC, I'll just pick up a smaller computer monitor.

Can some one please measure the diameter of the lens. I ordered one of these and having direct sent to McMurdo Antarctica and thinking I will need a ND2 filter but not sure what diameter I should get. Curious how it compares to the H9500BD I have getting a firmware update to now.
Thanks in advance.

Side note and kudos to TrueDepth here. I had two pair of their DLP link glasses I bought December 2011 and they are swapping me my old glasses that will not do 144hz for two that will. That is great customer service.

Josh

.95" DC4 DMD with excellent optics. No dynamic iris, 3D or frame interpolation, but exceedingly sharp with great colors, good brightness and good black levels. For DLP fans, its hard to fault it at less than $1K... not for the RBE sensitive though (not bad, but certainly not RBE-free).

I put my order in early December. Per my rep, hoping to have glasses next week, we'll see I guess.


+1

I wish I new about he refurbs ebay was selling. The IN83 would be a steal for under 1K considering it retailed for 6K.

Isn't the IN83 almost 6yrs old?

Has anyone compaired the the judder of motion with the 1070 against a 2012 or 2013 model JVC pj. Im interested in this projector but the lack of cfi has me worried .I find the motion of my JVC 4810to be acceptable on low setting of the cfi.Im also considering the acer h6510bd if it comes with acumotion.if it doesnt I think I will buy the benq instead.
Edited by raullopez1234 - 1/11/13 at 6:04pm

I can't even tell if smart eco mode is even truely working since I don't ever see any changes like a dynamic iris going on and off during different scenes.

I thought the ND2 filter would be 50% brighter than without....??? I like my whites and would like my blacks, a tad more black...should I go for the nd2...is it a safer bet than a nd4? And are these filters, screw on, or snap on....or u just put it in front of the original lens and it just stays there? U don't have to worry about cleaning or anything?? Which one are we supposed to buy?

I wanna get some 3d glasses, but it'll be me mostly watching non 3d stuff...maybe once in a while I will get 3d movies, just for the heck of it....so I really dont know how many glasses to get....

close... Announced March 2008... The Marantz vp-11s2 was announced 4 months prior, and is an even better projector with DC4... They still go for over $4k used. Age alone does not tell the whole story with DLP... Some really mediocre new DLPs rely on 'features' rather than quality... not much of a choice given the lack of new DMDs over the past few years.

I appears as though there's no lag to this process, but I can't really tell the difference either. I just enabled it then disabled it on a bright scene then a less bright scene, and there was a momentary pop when going back into smart eco mode from normal in a dark scene, so maybe it's working, but maybe not. *scratches head. It's really hard to tell.

I'm not comparing it to top-end projectors of today, I was simply responding to the statement that the w1070 was not as sharp as the x10 (which was the entry-level model in the line that included the X10, IN80, IN82, IN83). TI has not made any better chips than the 0.95" DC4 DMD. You start with that, add in excellent optics and you have a great PJ. I'm not saying it is for everyone... those wanting the deepest blacks will not like it. But for DLP fans, It has very good blacks, excellent colors, great ansi contrast (>500:1) and excellent (for a DLP) native contrast without the use of a dynamic iris(measured over the 5k:1 spec by some). For 2D, you'd be hard pressed to find a better image for under $1K, and certainly not one with any type of warranty (factory refurb only comes with 90 days, though).

Hey, don't get me wrong, I'd much prefer a recently released .95" DC4 DMD projector with flawless dynamic iris operations and triple-flash 3D. Unfortunately, the Runco x-200i runs $15k.

Which under-a-grand PJ would you recommend for 2D that throws a better image?

There are many things that can be done to improve a picture. Screens, rugs, curtains, etc. To fight ambient light you can put a black area rug under the screen and that will do some improvement. Add a dark color board or some type of cloth over the screen and improve the image even more. There are screens like the black diamond or just buy a grey screen. Also, the HP screen works great too. So, you don't have to be forced to buy cheaper projectors unless you can't afford anything over $,1000. Then, you can convince yourself that your cheap business projector is the same as a high quality HT projector.